"I look like Tina," Louise groaned at her reflection in the long mirror. The blue, knee length dress had looked okay at the mall, but now she regretted it. It probably didn't matter what the dress looked like, honestly, because the idea of wearing a dress in general hadn't been her thing since she was nine. Sure, she felt girly sometimes, and wasn't opposed to even putting make-up on now and then, as long as dark and a little edgy. This, however, was girly in a different way than she preferred. It was frilly and princess-esque.

That might be Tina's thing – and maybe a little of Gene's thing – but it just wasn't for Louise. It was an hour before the dance and she wasn't going to find anything better. The idea of showing up in a suit sounded cool, just to mess with some of the older generation's sensibilities. Did she own a suit? No.

Too bad. That might have made an impression, Louise lamented. Well, she didn't look terrible in the dress, she admitted. And even if it wasn't her thing, it might be just the thing to get Logan's attention. But no way was she doing something ridiculous like wearing heels. She wasn't about to spend all night uncomfortable and maybe breaking an ankle. Her black Converse would be just fine. Who the hell was going to look at her feet anyway? Not when she had everything else looking great. In fact, maybe if she dazzled everybody with her outfit, she wouldn't be asked to dance. Gag!

Knit caps and bunny ears probably weren't what anybody wore to a dance. Nobody ever saw her with her head uncovered and that wasn't going to change for one stupid event she didn't really care about going to. Waiting until the day of to make these decisions hadn't been a great idea, but she had honestly been thinking of ways to back out of it all week. Finally, she put on a black beanie, but dug through some of Tina's storage boxes for girly charms to add to the cap, including some rainbow and unicorn pins. Maybe she could start a punk princess trend online if she had the energy to take the pictures.

Finally, Louise left her room exhausted and collapsed on the couch. The effort put into getting ready, added to her previous exhaustion from helping set up the event earlier in the day, had drained her of any tiny amount of motivation she had left to go. Rudy was counting on her, she knew. And ending ten years of dealing with Chloe's crap was worth it, too.

To no one's surprise, as soon as she let herself have any ounce of relief, the doorbell rang, letting her know Rudy had arrived. He better have a car, she thought. He might like running everywhere now, but if he asks me to just walk there, I'm gonna need an inhaler.

"Hi, Louise," Rudy said, grinning from ear to ear. "You look really pretty in that dress."

"Yea, yea," Louise rolled her eyes. "RUDY'S HERE!" she shouted up the staircase. "I'LL BE BACK BY NINE!"

Her mother came running to the stairs. "Oh, no you don't Miss Louise. You're not leaving without taking a picture on your big, special day. Oh, you look so adorable in your little suit, Rudy. Is that a corsage?" Louise saw the flower in his hand down at his side. It was pretty, but she didn't really want to go through the trouble of wearing it all night. And why was this starting to feel like a real date? Not cool.

Her mother set them up in the living room next to the window. It seemed to drag on forever. Rudy had his arm around her shoulder and that was definitely making it weird. It wasn't his fault. Her mom had encouraged them to scooch together and for him to put his arm around her. It clicked then that maybe her mom did think the two of them were going on a date for real. It was probably better than telling her the real reason they were going together.

Her dad stood in the background in his sweatpants and white t-shirt, probably waiting to be able to watch TV again. When the 19 identical pictures had all been taken, Louise tried to get going, but her mom stopped them again.

"Hold up, you two. We need to give you the talk before you go," her mom said, halting them.

"Oh, my god! Mom!" This was so embarrassing.

"I'm not saying that anything's going to happen," Linda rambled on. "But if it does, we want you to be smart about it. Okay, Louise?"

"We're leaving!" Louise grabbed Rudy by the arm and dragged him out at almost a sprint.

During the drive to the school, Rudy's phone buzzed a million times with text messages from Chloe asking if he was almost to her house yet. Louise texted back that he was on his way. She even included a little heart. Rudy looked a little uncomfortable as Louise laughed in the glow of the cellphone screen in the dark car.

The texts continued as they entered the school behind a line of other students. Louise decided that Rudy had to stop for gas and it would be a few minutes more. She told Chloe that popular girls should arrive late so everybody would be there to see them. Chloe's response: "ur so smart ;)" What was this, 2003? You have a full keyboard. Write in complete sentences, woman!

Louise was surprised at how much better the place looked with the lights turned down and various small lights dancing across the wall and ceiling and floors. If you can't see how crappy something is, you can imagine it's as nice as you want it to be. The music helped, too. It wasn't great music, but it still gave an atmosphere to trick students into thinking they were having a good time. Even Louise started feeling upbeat after a few minutes of wandering around the gym. She didn't have any friends there and didn't know many of the underclassmen, but it still made her feel like she was part of a group while she was standing among the chitchat awkwardly with Rudy standing beside her.

Rudy's phone started ringing from his pocket. Chloe was finally at the end of her patience and was calling now.

"What do I do?" Rudy began freaking out. "I didn't plan this far."

"Don't answer it," Louise advised. "Turn off your phone. Somebody will text her that you're here with me eventually. Then, she'll either stay at home and cry or come here and make a scene. Either way, you slayed the bitch-dragon, Chloe Barbash, and you're a hero to all the boys and girls she's put down since elementary school."

Rudy turned off his phone and put it away. "Since we're already here, would you like to dance, Louise?"

"I'll go out there and bust some moves, but as soon as the slow dancing crap starts I'm out of there."

"Fair enough," Rudy shrugged.

The dance floor was filled with teens bouncing up and down to the music the band was playing. Mr. Frond weaved through the crowd separating anybody that was making too much body contact. "No, no, no!" he scolded. "Ew!" he freaked out at two students grinding against each other. "Do you have any idea how many germs you can get from dancing like that?"

"Pretty sure those two will be swapping way more germs later," Louise shouted to Rudy over the noise.

This was fun, Louise admitted to herself. She wouldn't tell anybody else, except maybe Rudy when he dropped her off. Just because it was something she associated with her airheaded classmates didn't mean it was a bad thing. Thinking that something was terrible just because terrible people happened to like it was not a good way of doing things. That's how you grow up to be a miserable old person who yells at other people having fun.

As Louise let herself enjoy the music, she grabbed Rudy by both hands and made him spin in circles with her. She began laughing without anything holding her back. All the stresses of school and the obsession with Logan and her job at the restaurant all melted away.

"RUDY!"

Until Chloe's voice came shrieking into her ears.

Rudy and Louise stopped to stare at Chloe. They had been together on this plan to humiliate Chloe for two days, but neither of them had put any thought into what they'd say to her when she confronted them. It's all fun and games until you're standing there with your mouth hanging open.

"What the hell, Rudy! How could you just leave me at home and come to the dance with her! Do you know how embarrassing this is? I thought we were together."

"Pssh!" Louise couldn't keep a straight face. "You barely even looked at Rudy before he won state last year. Except when you flirted with him to give you quiz answers in fourth grade. And when you tricked him into doing your science project in sixth grade. And when you sweet talked him into buying you all those clothes with money from his summer job. This is exactly what you deserve, Chloe!"

Louise had been dealing with her taking advantage of her best friend for years. Sure, Rudy was at fault, too. He knew she was using him and he had his own self-esteem problems, but that didn't make her less of a predator.

"You've been pretty mean to me, Chloe." Rudy backed up Louise.

"But I've changed," Chloe stomped her foot. "I really like you now."

"I agree with Louise. You didn't want to date me until I became a winner." Then, Rudy gestured to Louise. "But Louise always thought I was a winner!"

Without warning, he did it. Rudy pulled Louise toward him and before she knew it, his wet lips were pressed against her own. She felt powerless. She didn't want to kiss him, but she knew everybody was watching and if she didn't go along with it, she'd embarrass Rudy and their whole diabolical plan would crash and burn.

I can't believe I didn't realize he liked me. How did I miss all the signs. He's ruining everything.

Rudy finally pulled away after what felt like a lifetime.

"You're going to regret this," Chloe threatened. "I don't know when and I don't know how, but I'm going to destroy you, Belcher."

Louise watched Chloe march away to the exit. As her eyes followed Chloe, she locked eyes with Logan whom she hadn't seen the entire night. The look in his eyes said it all. He had seen the whole thing. There was this look of disbelief in his eyes. Was he disappointed in her for being so cruel? Not likely. He was ten times the jerk she'd ever be. Was he…Jealous? He turned away from her and made his own way to the exit, behind Chloe.

"Ack!" Louise snapped back to Rudy who was gagging. "That was so gross! I'm so sorry, Louise."

"What the hell, Rudy? I give you tongue and this is the thanks I get?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't plan on kissing you. It just came to me. It seemed like such a good idea at the time." He was scraping his tongue with his fingernails.

"And here I was thinking you had a crush on me." She nudged him in the side with her elbow.

"What? No!" Rudy denied the very idea. "You're my bestfriend. That's just weird."